Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 263: New Battlefield
North shore, Yan Zhengqing patted Shen Jianfei’s shoulder and praised him greatly: “Good, excellent, a single strike annihilating 10,000 elite soldiers from the Jin Kingdom at the Foundation Establishment stage, this is an unprecedented great victory!”
Shen Jianfei laughed mischievously, “Of course, it’s a great victory. The Jin Kingdom will definitely regret this, their intestines turning green. But this unprecedented victory is not just mine, it’s the result of the collective effort of the entire army. Besides… sigh, we still lost over 800 men.”
At the last part, Shen Jianfei became somewhat melancholic.
Yan Zhengqing also sighed lightly, “A clay pot will inevitably break at the mouth, and a general will inevitably die on the battlefield. Since we chose the battlefield, we must be prepared for death. The only thing we can do is win and then seek justice for the fallen!”
At this point, Yan Zhengqing’s expression suddenly became serious, and he looked around: “Anyone who dares to take the initiative to attack Anyang, including Nanyang Prefecture, Dongyuan Prefecture, and the Jin Kingdom, must pay the price for their actions! A price so heavy that it will make them regret it for the rest of their lives!”
“However, the premise is that we must win.”
He issued orders: “Send a command, do not stop the artillery, attack freely, let the soldiers play however they want, we must not allow the enemy to rest or feel at ease.
Additionally, strategically, we will fully switch to a defensive posture; however, the primary tactic for now is ‘to attack in place of defense,’ maintaining fire suppression on the southern shore.
As for the air force, please have General Cheng Jiming dispatch about 200 aircraft to harass and conduct air raids on the 300,000-strong Jin army in the south; the specific number of planes can be arranged by General Cheng. Be sure to leave some planes here to maintain pressure.
Once we locate the main force of the Jin Kingdom, we will immediately begin bombing. The goal is not necessarily to inflict casualties, but to hinder their marching speed and disrupt their morale. The 200 aircraft should be divided into teams to make sure the Jin forces cannot rest or sleep, keeping them constantly fatigued and mentally strained.”
After making these meticulous arrangements, Yan Zhengqing still didn’t dare to rest. He continued to stay busy, repeatedly thinking about the details. The Jin Kingdom was, after all, a powerful nation, and fighting against them in Anyang was quite challenging. Not to mention, if the standoff here lasts too long, there could be issues on the western front. Therefore, Yan Zhengqing couldn’t afford to relax.
The western front, of course, referred to Songzhou Prefecture! Previously, the governor of Songzhou, Gao Bin, had retreated without a fight, but that didn’t mean Gao Bin wouldn’t strike back. If Gao Bin learned that the situation here was deadlocked and Anyang’s forces were stretched thin, he would certainly take the opportunity to attack. Gao Bin was like a cunning and ruthless wolf!
As for Kaiping Prefecture, after Li Yulong ascended the throne, it was also in turmoil and had to deal with internal reforms. They wouldn’t be able to provide much military support to defend Anyang.
“If we want to deter Songzhou, Anyang must quickly achieve a decisive victory!” Yan Zhengqing furrowed his brows.
Looking at the morning glow slowly appearing in the east, Yan Zhengqing’s heart grew heavier. Anyang’s foundation was ultimately lacking, and now the war was being sustained mainly by industry, which made the war’s lifeline quite fragile.
…………
At almost the same time, on the coast of Anyang, Li Xian personally saw off the ships. Five heavily armed ironclad ships slowly left the port.
Xu Ren, standing beside Li Xian, said, “To prevent Songzhou from reacting and to divert Jin Kingdom’s forces, we must quickly open a second front and win a victory—a victory worth writing about.”
Li Yuanming also expressed his concerns, “Young master, the factory is beginning to face pressure, and Anyang’s economy is starting to be affected. We must quickly achieve a victory with significant impact to stabilize the people’s hearts.”
Li Xian looked at the slowly departing ironclad ships, watching the eastern sea surface glow with the first rays of the sun, and smiled confidently, “A decisive victory, or at least a victory with significant impact, I can’t guarantee; but one decisive technology is about to be tested soon. And this technology also has strong deterrent power.”
Decisive technology? Xu Ren’s eyes brightened, “Is it a supersonic plane?”
Li Xian slightly shook his head: “No, it’s a subsonic plane. To design a supersonic plane, we still need some accumulation. According to Yun Feihong’s calculations, this plane will break the 800 to 850 km per hour speed range. From Anyang to the Jin Kingdom’s capital, Lequanfu, it’s about two thousand kilometers, which will take about two hours.
By then, we can launch an attack directly from Anyang and drop bombs on the Jin Kingdom’s imperial palace.
Tsk, I can’t wait.
In addition to the subsonic plane, the ‘thousand-mile ears’ technology has also been preliminarily successful, and the ‘thousand-mile eyes’ technology has achieved some phased results. With these, our military command system is finally starting to improve. The ‘thousand-mile eyes’ and ‘thousand-mile ears’ technologies owe much to Xiao Yuquan’s assistance.”
Throwing a bomb directly into the palace of another country?! Li Yuanming blinked, “Is that really possible? The palace is fully protected by formations and won’t be so easily attacked. Moreover, there are quite a few Nascent Soul experts in the Jin Kingdom, we need to be careful.”
Li Xian smiled proudly, “Formations can’t be active all the time, right? As for Nascent Soul experts, there’s no need to worry. The plane flies from 5,000 meters, even up to 10,000 meters high. Nascent Soul experts will be helpless. Because of high-altitude gale winds and the lack of spiritual energy, the flight altitude for a Golden Core expert is about 3,000 meters at most, not exceeding 5,000 meters. As for Nascent Soul experts, their flying height is unlikely to exceed 8,000 meters.
At 10,000 meters, it’s almost considered the ‘absolute safe altitude’ nowadays.”
Li Yuanming still had doubts, “But wait, high altitudes have gale winds and lack of spiritual energy. If Nascent Soul experts can’t fly that high, what makes us capable of doing so?”
Before Li Xian could respond, Ling Zhifeng next to him snorted from his nose, proudly uttering four words: “Aerodynamics.”
Li Yuanming’s eyes flickered, “Aerodynamics, how do you explain that?”
Ling Zhifeng immediately stumbled. We’re Taoists, not some researchers. How would I know? Looking at the smile in Li Yuanming’s eyes, he immediately realized he had been tricked again. “Hmph, don’t ask me to do any more fortune telling for you in the future.”
Li Xian watched as everyone argued but did not stop them. He pulled Summer Qingqing by his side and they took a walk by the sea. Occasionally, they picked up seashells or told a few jokes, and both were immersed in their own happy moments. For a while, they forgot about the crisis facing Anyang and the heavy burden on their shoulders.
The vast sea, the bright and beautiful morning sun, and the golden sandy beach formed a peaceful land far from the hustle and bustle. The rolling waves washed away the fatigue in their souls. Summer Qingqing gently rested her head on Li Xian’s shoulder, temporarily forgetting all her worries and troubles.
Only by noon did Li Xian and Qingqing return to the car, preparing to head to Qingyun Valley to watch the research on the “supersonic plane.” Of course, due to many technical challenges not yet overcome, they could only produce subsonic planes for now, but even these subsonic planes were quite powerful.
……
At the same noon, Chang Lin led five ironclad ships, sailing rapidly to the south, their target—Jin Kingdom’s eastern coastline.
Military objective: shelling the eastern coastline of Jin Kingdom to open up a second battlefield and extend the war into Jin’s territory. By the way, they would also destroy salt fields along the coast. Salt is a very important resource, and if it runs out, the consequences would be dire.
On the five ironclad ships, there were over a thousand navy troops, plus 5,000 army soldiers—the Marine Corps. All of the more than 6,000 people were at least at the Foundation Establishment stage or higher, including more than a hundred Golden Core experts. Additionally, there was a mid-Nascent Soul expert in command.
This mid-Nascent Soul expert, named Guo Sifang, self-styled as “Xiaoyaozi,” a very common and often repeated Taoist name. However, this person loved to travel. But his traveling was not aimless; it was to seek opportunities—this was the purpose for most Nascent Soul experts and above when they wandered around.
Anyang was able to recruit Guo Sifang, thanks to Master Feiyu. After Master Feiyu arrived in Anyang, he found the conditions excellent, with an abundance of spiritual and medicinal liquids, magical treasures available to discard at will, and a brilliant future. So, he brought his friends along. And those friends brought more friends, and now Anyang had several Nascent Soul experts supporting them.
This time, fully armed “Xiaoyaozi” joined the fleet, just in case.
Sitting at the bow of the ship, Guo Sifang, the great master Xiaoyaozi, admired the waves, felt the power of technology, and played with the flying sword in his hand. Occasionally, he took out a wine flask from his waist, sipping the “spiritual wine” brewed from liquid spiritual energy. He was thoroughly relaxed.
Although there were rules between the sea clans, demon clans, and human clans, forbidding Golden Core experts and above from entering each other’s territories, Anyang was not included. The cooperation between Anyang and the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace had been growing deeper and deeper, from stainless steel to ironclad ships, internal combustion engines, fuels, luxury goods, and so on. Their relationship had long become that of partners.
As long as Golden Core experts and above didn’t hunt the sea clans in the ocean, there was no problem. If humans fought among themselves, the sea clans were happy to watch the fun.
So, behind the ironclad ships, many sea demons were following, even some night patrolling yakshas, preparing to watch the fun.
Further away, nearly at the horizon where the sea met the sky, there was a 52-meter-long first-generation ironclad ship. But this ship was flying the Golden Dragon flag, the flag of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace. At the bow, the Dragon Princess was watching from afar, preparing to witness the great naval battle that Li Xian had spoken of.